Chapter 27

Cold Pyjamas And Wet Feet

 

 

 

For every two steps they took towards safety Anna made another attempt to turn back towards the sea. Cass began to realise as she got colder despite her coat and wellies, Anna must be dangerously cold. Even if what had awakened Cass had been the sound of Anna leaving the house she had been out there five minutes longer than Cass with only socks on her feet and wearing nothing but pyjamas. Oh Lord, Anna’s hands were so cold! Her feet must be worse.

If only Hal would get here …

That was when she saw him, running onto the quay. He saw them almost at once, and came straight along the harbour wall towards them. In the moonlight it was easy for them to see each other. He was running as if his own life depended on it.

‘Don’t wake her,’ Cass whispered, but Hal ignored her. He swept Anna up into his arms, like some hero from a Victorian novel. She gave a cry of surprise, he must have woken her, but he was strong enough to hold on to her, carrying her back down the sea wall to safety, Cass trailing behind. He was walking so fast that she could barely keep up, her own legs and feet frozen through in her thin pyjamas.

‘What’s going on? What are you doing?’ Anna murmured. ‘I’m cold, Hal, why am I so cold?’

‘You’ve been sleepwalking,’ Cass heard him say. ‘The vicar found you. I’m taking you home.’

‘I must have been dreaming. Hal, I’m scared,’ and her voice sounded so small and lost that any man would have held her tighter to him as Hal did now.

‘Don’t be scared. I’ve got you. I’m not going to let you go. Now let’s go home.’

His voice was so full of compassion that any woman would have melted into his arms as Anna did now. They had both forgotten that she was there, struggling to keep up with Hal’s long strides as he swept into the cottage and put Anna down on the sofa in front of the fire.

Only when he had her settled did Hal seem to notice that Cass was there and he turned to her with terse instructions. At least she could make herself useful to him.

‘Get the fire going again, will you? And fetch down her duvet and some clean dry pyjamas.’

Cass found another pair of fluffy pyjamas from Anna’s bedroom and brought those down to put on.

‘Do you want to wait outside while I get her changed?’ she asked Hal, and he went to wait outside the door. Anna was limp and passive as Cass helped her get changed into clean nightclothes, the pink fluffy pyjamas when she helped Anna to take them off were icy cold, Anna’s skin beneath them chill and clammy. Anna was so thin, so painfully thin that it made Cass wince to look at her. She needed help; she needed proper help, not just a meddling vicar and a well-meaning friend like Hal. Anna seemed half asleep and confused, she didn’t seem quite aware of where she was and who she was with. She called Cass “Mum” twice and once she asked where her father was. When Cass had got her into the clean pyjamas Hal came back and they wrapped into her duvet and Hal stoked the fire. It had not yet quite gone out, it was only a couple of hours since Cass had gone to bed, and it was a matter of minutes to add some more kindling to catch the embers and get the fire going again, the flames warming the room through quickly.

‘Now, go and get some warm water for her feet. We need to get them clean again.’

While she went to fetch the bowl of water that Hal had requested, Hal was holding Anna in his arms as they sat on the sofa; her teeth were chattering, her feet bloodless and stained with mud which had seeped through her socks. Warm water in the washing up bowl, and Cass found herself kneeling on the floor washing her housemate’s feet. Anna was limp in Hal’s arms.

‘Should we get a doctor?’ Cass asked from her position at Anna’s feet. ‘She wasn’t well when she went to bed, I think she’s feverish.’

‘Not yet. Let’s see how she does.’ His eyes met Cass’s over the top of Anna’s head. ‘Have you got any whisky?’

‘I don’t think she ought to have whisky.’

‘Not for her, for me, I’m frozen,’ he said with a slight grin. ‘You could do with some too.’

‘We haven’t any whisky. But I’ll make some hot sweet tea.’

‘That’ll have to do. You can make some of that for Anna too.’

By the time she returned from the kitchen with three steaming mugs Anna was asleep in Hal’s arms. She looked so peaceful and content there that Cass wished for a moment that she had been the one sleepwalking if it meant that Hal would hold her so tenderly. At least things seemed less awkward now than they had done the last time she saw him – but there wasn’t room for awkwardness between them if they were going to help Anna.

‘Her skin feels warmer now. How are her feet?’ Hal asked.  They talked in whispers so as not to disturb Anna.

‘Still cold. D’you think she might have frostbite?’

‘The temperature’s above freezing so I doubt it. How long do you think she was out there?’

‘About ten minutes? Quarter of an hour maybe? It felt like a long time, but I don’t think it was as long as all that.’ She checked Anna’s feet again, under the blanket that she had wrapped round them. They looked pale, but not as pale as they had been.

‘And are you all right?’

‘Me?’ Cass looked up at him. Was he just talking about tonight, or was he asking her more than that?

‘Yes, Vicar. You! It was pretty damn cold on that harbour wall!’ Oh. Just tonight then, it would appear, and she tried to ignore the little surge of disappointment. Anna was the important one right now.

‘I’m fine. Thank you. Are you?’

He paused for a moment before replying. ‘I worry about Anna, you know. She had her fair share of problems after …’ he didn’t seem sure how to say it.

‘After the abortion,’ Cass suggested quietly, busying herself with tidying up Anna’s wet clothes and folding them.

‘Oh, so she told you about that? I wondered if she would. I’m glad you know, she needs to talk to someone, someone other than me.’ The relief in his voice was obvious, the relief of a burden shared perhaps.

‘Who else knows about it?’ Cass asked looking up at him from where she knelt on the floor to sort the clothes. It was obviously not a part of widespread village gossip or she was sure that Graham would have told her about it.

‘Only me. Me and her parents, that’s all. And now you.’

‘Not even your parents?’

‘I never dared to tell them. Rob was going to tell them, but then … they lost a son. How could I tell them they’d lost a grandchild too?’

‘It must be hard for both of you, keeping a secret like that,’ Cass said, getting up from the floor and stretching her cramped knees.

‘That’s what made it even harder for her, why she has felt so guilty for so long. She had the abortion and then he died. She’s been unhappy for a very long time. I worry about her – and I worry that she’s got nobody but me. That’s why I wanted you to be there for her, to help her, because I can’t carry on like this with her. I can’t be what she wants me to be.’

‘What does she want you to be?’ Cass asked softly.

‘She wants me to be Rob. But I can’t be Rob for her, or for Mam and Dad. He’s dead and I can’t be what they need, but I can’t just let her suffer, can I? I can’t just let her go when I know what will happen if I do.’

‘What will happen?’ Cass whispered, but before Hal could answer Anna stirred in her sleep and they both turned to look at her, lying there looking so thin and frail and Hal didn’t need to answer.

‘Perhaps we should get her up to bed now,’ Cass suggested, practically, making the sensible decision for them all.

‘Yes, you’re right. I’ll carry her if you bring the quilt.’

Once again, he lifted the slight body of the sleeping woman in his arms, and carried her up the stairs, laying her down gently on the bed. Cass covered her over with the quilt and refilled the hot water bottle from earlier that was still in Anna’s bed.

Hal was looking down at Anna as she slept.

‘Would it help if I slept here for the rest of tonight?’ Hal turned to Cass. ‘I’ll stay if you want me to.’

‘I do want you … I mean, I think it might be a good idea if you did.’ Cass tried not to sound too eager. ‘I’ll just move Anna’s jewellery things off the bed in the spare room for you,’ she added, wanting to be clear that she wasn’t going to make any inappropriate suggestions to him again. ‘I think Anna would like to know you were here if she wakes in the night.’

‘Just Anna?’ he asked with a quirk of his eyebrow, that intimate look that implied so much more than he said to her. No wonder he was such a success with women.

‘And for me,’ she admitted, without thinking what she was saying, hastily adding, ‘in case I have to deal with her sleepwalking again, obviously.’

By the time she got back into her own bed again the sheets were cold and it took her a long while to get back to sleep.